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Simmo seems to be a decoy runner every time and first to the breakdown
Hope it's recognised how much he is doing for the team albeit as yet not doing the glory stuff for himself....very solid so far, come on England

Brent1Simmo seems to be a decoy runner every time and first to the breakdown
Hope it's recognised how much he is doing for the team albeit as yet not doing the glory stuff for himself....very solid so far, come on England

Probably like every Chiefs supporter, it was special to see 4 Chiefs players finish the game. With Sam being a local lad it’s fantastic to see his stock rise and his hard work rewarded. .. he going to be a big star if he keeps his form going. Really proud of him and all of those who helped him along the way.
Cmon you Chiefs

A different No.8 to Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes but so effective at what he does. Tackled like a demon the whole game and made some hard yards. Really showed his pace, upper body strength and leg drive to score two excellent tries and made Jacks Try with a no look pass.
I think, when fit, Vunipola will be first choice 8, but Sam would be a great 6 or 7 alongside or one of Eddies finishers when the opposition gets tired and the game opens up.

Did he put a foot wrong?
Obviously he will face much tougher opposition than Italy in this tournament and moving forward but he did everything asked of him and more today.
He is certainly a different option in the back row and when I look at players around the world that I personally admire Michael Hooper is one and if Sam could fill a similar role as Hooper does in the Australia team then that would be a be massive asset. I suppose the next question is how will Eddie Jones want to develop Sam and how will that impact on Sam's role here at Exe?
When you look at Henry's role and development with England and how it has impacted with us I suppose we have to be aware that something similar could happen with Sam.

Sam is a lovely lad and we are so pleased for him, great that he is a Devon lad too

Pirates put him on the bench last year quite a lot which I could never understand and there were rumours that Chiefs were going to let him go , so from the bench in the Championship to England's rising star, fantastic.

The forward play in the Championship is really tough, lots who have played in the Premiership and the Championship say the forward play is as tough in both leagues , Sam dealt with it all really well and his pace was obvious

Tom Lawday is also one to watch, a very gifted rugby player, great hands , all the skills and quick and strong too

Pirates have helped you guys hone some of your young guys , but that helps us too, so many thanks Mr Baxter and his team

“Whoever awarded Anthony Watson man of the match, a pair of fine finishes notwithstanding, deserves their accreditation to be revoked for the remainder of the tournament.

Not only did Simmonds match Watson’s haul of two tries but he also posted game-high totals for tackles made (23), carries (14), metres made (80), clean breaks (3) and defenders beaten (6). And he also weighed in with an assist for Jack Nowell in his first Six Nations match. There is more to rugby than bare statistics, but in this case the numbers do add up.”
He also scored 8 out 10 in their man marking feature!

Sam has certainly caught the headlines, and rightly so. He didn't look at all perturbed about playing in the 6N; it was just as though he was playing for Chiefs down at Sandy Park. He will have sterner tests as Zyder Head says, but this was a fabulous performance against tough opposition. And wasn't it great at the end to see Sam, Harry and Alec celebrating his try with Jack. When you think that Luke, Don, Olly (Woodburn), Jack (Maunder) and Ollie (Devoto) (apologies if I've missed anyone) could also be in there, it just shows how far we've come in a relatively short space of time.

Do Exeter view Simmonds as a 7 or an 8 long term? Given his style of play I'd definitely lean towards the former, which would be doubly handy because it means he can fit into the same side as Vunipola, but I'm not sure (i) how effective he is over the ball, and (ii) how much time he actually spends playing there compared to 8.

Interesting though for the first half on Saturday he was first in support at every breakdown on Exeter ball and he competed well....can't remember if he got turnovers or not but his tackle rate as well as metres made etc were off the chart...

In short he is very talented and I would play him somewhere...by the by it may not be a view shared by many but I think much as Billy V is a great player I do think we are in danger of over rating him.....we do need to find the right blend though..

Couldn’t get the pictures or the weight/height comparison with other No.8s which they got wrong, Sam is 6’0” and 16st 2lbs, about the same as his opposite number for Wales, Ross Moriarty

RUGBY UNION

How Rome’s new emperor rose up from Teignmouth

Sam Simmonds’ father helps chart the unusual career path of England’s two-try hero in Italy
Sam SimmondsTeignmouth U11's(Red/White/Black) V Salcombe U11's, Salcombe put in a crunching tackle on a Teignmouth break. PHOTO:Andy Styles. HAS01077_AS_006. TEIGN RUGBY/CS.
Sam Simmonds in action for Teignmouth Credit: Andy Styles
Dave Simmonds did not make it out to Rome to watch his son Sam’s barnstorming, two-try performance on his NatWest Six Nations debut at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday. Not for the first time where Sam’s rugby is concerned, the speed at which things developed rather took him by surprise.
“We didn’t know he would be in the team until late last week,” Simmonds Snr explains to The Daily Telegraph from his home in Teignmouth. “So, we just watched the game at home with my brother Rob, who lives next door. My nephew and his partner came over. It turned into a pretty good afternoon.”
That is an understatement. When even Eddie Jones, England’s head coach, is waxing lyrical about Simmonds’s fast, elusive, “Twenty20”-style game, and comparing him favourably with the All Black Victor Vito, you know it has been a good afternoon.
Did they at least get to speak afterwards? “We tried to ring him but I think they had James Bond in their dressing room or something,” Simmonds says, referring to actor Daniel Craig’s photobombing of the England dressing room.

England’s decision to start with Simmonds may only have come about because Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes were injured. But it is difficult to see how Jones can leave the Exeter back-rower out for the visit of Wales this weekend. As well as the two tries, Simmonds posted game-high totals for tackles made (23), carries (14), metres made (80), clean breaks (three) and defenders beaten (six). He also weighed in with an assist for fellow Exeter Chief Jack Nowell.
Whatever Jones decides, all England fans will be hoping one of the more unconventional journeys to the top of the rugby tree continues on its current splendid trajectory. It was not so long ago Simmonds was struggling to make the Cornish Pirates first team, having been sent there on loan by Exeter. This time last year he had yet to make his Premiership debut. The speed at which things have come together is extraordinary.
He nearly never made it at all. Dave Simmonds recalls his son wanting to be a footballer for “a good four years” from the age of about nine, describing him as a “very good player”. A phone call to Simmonds’s first club, Teignmouth RFC, confirms that. Bridget Pattison – wife of Simmonds’s under-14s and under-15s coach, Graham Pattison – recalls Simmonds being a “lovely boy” but one with divided loyalties.
The records show, though, that when Simmonds did focus on the oval ball, the results were impressive. Pattison has kept scrapbooks full of local newspaper cuttings. “I’m looking at a picture of him now scoring for the under-14s against Plymstock,” she says. Playing mainly on the wing (Simmonds appears lithe and whippet-like in those early years, the “big bum” referred to by Nowell post-Italy not yet in evidence), Simmonds helped Teignmouth win the Devon Plate at under-14s. At under-15s he scored 16 tries in a season. At under-16s he scored 14.

After a season at Torquay RFC, Simmonds returned to Teignmouth and moved to the centres, from which position he wrought merry havoc, scoring 34 tries in only 16 appearances and helping Teignmouth reach the Devon Colts Shield final.
Simmonds’s father – like Nowell Snr a trawlerman and with whom Simmonds still lives – openly admits sport had by now “taken over” his two boys’ lives. Sam’s brother, Joe, now a fly-half with Exeter, is two years his junior.
Was England’s new No&#8201;8 never tempted to follow him out on the seas? “Not really” he laughs. “My brother Rob and I catch crabs and lobsters. He likes eating them but he’s not so keen on catching them. We’ve got a boat and he took a few of the Chiefs lads out last summer. I’d say he likes to go out on a boat as long as he’s sunbathing.”
Simmonds joined Exeter’s academy in 2012, making his debut for the senior side in a LV Cup game against London Welsh in November 2012. It would be another 4˝ years until he made his Premiership bow.
05/12/04.SPORT. Teignmouth U11's Back from left Ben Lipa, Jake Beagam, Tom Papworth, Louie Atkinson, Ross Manester, Sam Simmonds, and Josh Davey, front from left Adam Birdsey, Henry Burridge, Kieran Pattison, Liam Hill, and Jake Monnington. PHOTO:Andy Styles. HAS01077_AS_002. TEIGN RUGBY/CS.(News Standard Telegraph Optimisation)
Simmonds poses with Teignmouth under-nines (backrow, second from the right)
Credit: Andy Styles
Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, admitted it was a proud moment watching not only Simmonds, but Nowell, Harry Williams and Alec Hepburn all playing well in the same England team on Sunday. “It’s what we’ve worked so hard for, and targeted for a long time and it was great to see,” he says. “Especially how happy they were for each other. They deserve huge credit.”
The question now is how far Simmonds can go. Still only 23, and with fewer than 30 top-flight appearances under his belt, Baxter says there is plenty to come. At only 16-odd stone – a full five stones less than Billy Vunipola – he feels Simmonds may fill out a little but admits it is a “fine balancing act” between putting on muscle and losing that devastating speed. “What you don’t want is for him to get artificially big,” he said. “To try to turn him into some 18st guy would be wrong.”
What about his best position? Lawrence Dallaglio, Sir Clive Woodward and Ben Kay all offered various theories on Sunday. “I don’t think it’s a big issue,” Baxter said. “I think rugby has kind of moved beyond the ‘specialist’ guy doing this or doing that. Everyone has to play what’s in front of them and be proficient at it. It doesn’t really matter if he’s six or seven or eight. But yes, you want to get the ball in his hands as often as possible.”
Beginning against Wales? Simmonds Snr is hoping so. After missing out in Italy, he and his wife will be travelling to Twickenham. “We’re looking forward to it,” he says. They are not the only ones.

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